World, the biometric ID verification project co-founded by Sam Altman and Steven Lam, is officially launching the new version of its Super App today, introducing a series of features, including an encrypted chat service and a Venmo-like money transfer system that works with cryptocurrency rather than cash.
World was founded in 2019 by the start-up Tools for Humanity, which first released its app in 2023. In a world roiled by AI-generated digital fakery, the company says it aims to develop digital “proof of human” tools to help separate humans from bots.
At a small gathering at World’s office in San Francisco on Thursday, Altman and World co-founder and CEO Alex Blania offered a few introductory remarks about the newest version of the app (dubbed a “super app” by its developers) before passing it over to the product team to walk through some of the new features.
In his speech, Altman explained that the idea for World was born from conversations he and Blania had about the need to develop a new theme for economics. That model, which revolves around Web3 principles, is exactly what World has been working to build with its verification network. “It’s extremely challenging to both detect unique individuals and do so in a privacy-preserving way,” Altman said.
World Chat, the application’s new messenger, appears to be tailored for just that. It relies on end-to-end encryption to make users’ conversations secure (this encryption is claimed to be as strong as in the privacy-minded messenger Signal) and features colour-coded speech bubbles that let you know whether the person you’re talking with has been verified by World’s system, or not, said the company. The concept is to make it worthwhile to be verified, and allow people to know if someone they’re talking to is, in fact, them. Chat initially launched in beta in March.
The other significant new feature unveiled on Thursday is an extended system for making digital payments using cryptocurrency in the apps. The World has already served as a sort of digital wallet for some time, but the latest release of the app offers significantly broader functionality. With virtual bank accounts, users can also get their paychecks directly into World App and make deposits from their bank accounts, and both can be upgraded to cryptocurrency. You don’t have to be authenticated by the World system to use these features.
Tiago Sada, World’s chief product officer, said that part of the motivation for adding chat was to provide a more interactive experience for users. “What we kept hearing from people is they wanted a more social World app,” Sada said. World Chat was conceived to meet that need and provide, as Sada says, a safe and secure way for people to communicate. “It was a lot of work to build this feature-rich messenger that is, like a WhatsApp or a Telegram, but with the encryption and security of something much closer to Signal,” Sada said.
World (formerly Worldcoin) uses an unusual verification process: willing participants have their eyes scanned at one of the company’s offices, where the Orb — a large verification device — translates their irises into a unique, encrypted digital code. That code — the verified World ID — can then be used by the person to navigate Richemont’s ecosystem of services, which is accessible through its super app.
These social-friendly features are clearly an attempt to grow what has been a more niche product, which makes sense, as scaling verification is the company’s primary challenge. Altman told me that he hopes the project will scan the eyes of a billion people, although Tool for Humanity says it has scanned fewer than 20 million people.
As not everyone will be thrilled about standing in a long queue at corporate HQ to have their eyeballs scanned by a giant metal ball, the company has already been working hard to streamline its verification process. Tools for Humanity provides the Right Tech in April. Tools for Humanity released its Orb Mini — hand-held, phone-like devices — that let users scan their own eyes from the comfort of home.
Eventually, Blania has told TechCrunch in the past, the company wants to make the Orb Mini a mobile point-of-sale device or sell its ID sensor tech to device manufacturers. If the company does so, it would reduce a significant obstacle to verification and could prompt far more widespread use.
